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Celestial Bodies
The portion of the expanding world home to The Known Lands has several natural satellites orbiting overhead: a single, yellow sun and three moons of varying sizes. These bodies have become objects of worship over time with multiple traditions that have assigned eerily similar meanings to each, even if they assign different names to them. The Sun Unlike the tidy, heliocentric solar systems present elsewhere in the galaxy, the sun of the Known Lands is very small and orbits the World. Indeed, further along the span of the cylindrical world there are other stars that function in the same way, circumventing the rod from south to north. The sun of the Known Lands is approximately 6,300 km in diameter. Though conventionally uninhabitable to terrestrial life, the Sun is home to great Solar Worms that constantly wriggle through its gaseous depths, performing some unknown function, only to erupt to the surface in dramatic displays that are sometimes visible to the naked eye. The Moons The three moons are in descending order of size: white, red, and blue. It is common knowledge that the moons are, or were inhabited. *'Blue Moon': 2,700km in diameter. It is associated in the Known Lands with deception and trickery, it is difficult to see with the naked eye most nights. It is called Eshu throughout the south and west, northerners primarily call it Loptr, and it is titled Lie of Omission in the east. People avoid making oaths when it waxes, and it is seen as a difficult time for truth to emerge, and those rare alignments where it passes fully before Mammetun often become times of great upheaval when fate itself is thought to be blind. It is known to be inhabited by nations of Beasts with the heads of Men. The sages have given names to some of these: the Sphinx, the Manticore, and the Lamassu. Ancient legend speaks of times when Eshu passed so close to the Known Lands that these beasts could leap from the tops of their mountains to the peaks of the Arpaks. *'Red Moon': 3,500km in diameter. It is associated in the Known Lands with conflict, especially war. It is called Apedemak throughout the south and west, northerners primarily call it Ollerus, and it is titled Stark Blood Rose in the east. The waxing of the red moon always seems to coincide with violence, whether a great battle between armies or a murder in the night. The east is full of cults who hide among the myriad revolutionary groups, spilling blood for the glory of the Stark Blood Rose. Fragmented scrolls describe Apedemak as home to a race of Mithril Men who pass in to the Known Lands on bolts of white lightning. *'White Moon': 4,800km in diameter. It is associated in the Known Lands with destiny, fate, and inevitability. It is called Mammetun throughout the south and west, northerners primarily call it Verthandi, and it is titled Supreme Witness in the east. It is said that when Mammetun waxes, spirits draw close to the Known Lands. Religious Significance The sun and the moons have been objects of worship since the earliest days of the Known Lands, individually and in various combinations. In modern times, those who revere the heavenly bodies tend to be marginalized by the followers of the Beast Gods, especially the Church of The Stallion. Category:Places